Tag Archives: politics

This week, let’s cut straight to the chase and share two terrific stories that have us swooning. As you may know, we’re remodeling our office so we’ve got our eyes peeled for hip design trends. So, you can imagine our delight at this article (with pics, of course) about How Instagram Made Its New York Office Highly Instagrammable. Amazing! Swept up in a New York state of mind? Let us give you another reason to love the Big Apple by introducing you to the New York Public Library’s new Instagram stories campaign that puts the story back in stories by turning classic novels into – well – stories. Genius! We simply cannot wait to see this campaign unfold. Meanwhile in other news…

New research indicates that 14 percent of Americans have changed their views on a social or political topic within the last year because of something they saw on social media. With elections coming up, this is a pretty incredible statistic. Learn more about the research in this comprehensive recap. Read more after the jump…

According to the article, what’s working is that students are not being careful and cautious and are not overly messaged. They’re being direct, outspoken and passionate. And they don’t have anything to lose, and everything to gain.

While many are speaking out about what happened, it’s the teenagers who could have the greatest impact on effecting real change. Theirs is the first generation that grew up with the internet and social media. To them, social media is allowing them to speak directly to elected officials, and rally people across the country on platforms to directly share their message.

It may not be official, but summer is in full swing and everything feels fresh and new again. While some of the hotter social platforms are offering their fans cool new features, some of the classics are making a comeback, too. So, grab a cold drink, find a comfy spot under a shady tree and read up on the latest news in the world of social media.

The chief executive of Grubhub, an online and mobile food ordering company, learned a lesson last week after he sent out a companywide email that implied that employees should resign if they supported President-elect Donald Trump.

The backlash was immediate and sustained. CEO Matt Maloney quickly moved to clarify his comments, but he damage was done. There were calls for a boycott and media pounced on the executive.

Responding to questions from a Ragan’s PR Daily reporter about the issue, GroundFloor Media’s Vice President Gil Rudawsky said that he began advising clients to update their policies concerning making public political statements earlier this year, and re-emphasized this in the weeks leading up to the election.

“Public comments, even from personal accounts, can be—and often are—misconstrued as being representative of their company’s views,” Rudawsky told Ragan’s. “As a best practice, it is not appropriate for executives to make decidedly one-sided political comments or to push their views on employees.”

And regarding Maloney’s missive to his staff, Rudawsky offered this lesson:

“We remind our clients that while free speech is right, just because you can make political mandates doesn’t mean you should.”

Barack Obama is the first president to have a Twitter account (@POTUS), and it is clear that social media will continue to play an increasing and integral role in politics. This election cycle, no candidate has moved his tiny thumbs more than Donald Trump, whose 140-character rants have put him in the spotlight almost as often as his orange glow and atrocious comb-over. Though his tweets have often gotten him into trouble, he’s found a committed audience through social media. Hillary Clinton has also amassed a strong following on Twitter, though her tweets are wisely curated, unlike Trump’s stream-of-consciousness dumps. Read more after the jump…

But the outspoken former CEO of General Electric has not earned the right to make controversial statements and not get taken to task for them. Ever since his tweet on Friday blaming strong unemployment numbers on “these Chicago guys” cooking the numbers for political gain, he has been the target of attacks.

Finally on Tuesday, Welch cried uncle, but instead of backing down from this claim he stepped down from his soapbox column hosted by Fortune and Reuters. He said that the column that he co-wrote with his wife Suzy Welch would get better “traction” elsewhere.

He didn’t waste any time getting back on track and Welch late Tuesday offered a 1,000-word rebuttal in The Wall Street Journal explaining his Friday tweet. He teased it from his Twitter account: “Here, in the Wall Street Journal, is what I couldn’t say in 140 characters.”

Don’t mess with people’s politics. If you do, you’d better have a good reason for it and a strong response plan.

The drama surrounding the Susan G. Komen fiasco is yet another example of how seriously the public takes its politics. The organization that gave special meaning to the color pink, came crashing down when it became known that it had pulled its $700,000 contribution to Planned Parenthood.

Without taking sides on the political issue, one is safe in saying the loss in future contributions and damage to Komen’s reputation will total much more than $700,000.

It’s a good lesson, particularly now that the political season is in full throttle, to review our clients’ political stances and contributions. Clearly, having a heads-up that the CEO is making a contribution to a particular candidate can help in issues-management planning. Here are some tips to help clients get through the season without becoming too much of a target.

Research: Find out whom and which issues your clients support. Even if those stances are not popular, knowing about them before they blow up on a client’s Facebook page can help.

Bigger Picture: Using Komen as an example, there should be a discussion with clients about whether supporting or discontinuing support for a hot-button cause or candidate might do more harm than good. Even if the clients disagree, as PR pros we’ve done our job offering them the likeliest fallout scenarios.

Strategy: Have in place a plan for responding to the media and on social media before a political firestorm hits. Part of the reason Komen had a hard time was the silence on its Facebook page as the deluge of negative comments was posted. A quick, thoughtful response can help.

Grow a thick skin: Politics is nasty business, and facts often get lost in emotions and longstanding beliefs. Even the most robust response plan can get sabotaged. Clients who are aware of the risks of playing politics can better weather the storm, stick to their convictions, and offer measured responses.

Sister agencies GroundFloor Media (GFM) and CenterTable navigate the blurred lines between marketing, public relations and advertising – online and off. The GFM team creates and manages messages from inception through an intermediary to the end consumer, while the CenterTable team creates messages that engage directly with the end consumer. Both agencies work with a wide range of clients – from food & beverage to health & wellness to technology & telecomm – who consistently offer us innovative and creative opportunities to reach new audiences. We developed this blog to share our experiences, advice and industry commentary with other communicators. We hope you enjoy it!